This bra could save your life: how ‘femtech’ aids women’s health

How can a bra save your life? Could birth ever be painless? What is the future of contraception?
From problems with periods and childbirth to the menopause, society shrugs its shoulders and saying “Welcome to being a woman”, instead of coming up with better solutions. It doesn’t have to be this way — which is why female-focused companies are coming up with inventions to help women at every stage of life. Part of the “femtech” movement, they are creating products focused on everything from fertility to female heart health.
Closing the gender health gap could add up to $1 trillion to the global economy annually, according to the management consultancy McKinsey. Here are some of the inventions — and the women behind them.
It has been estimated that nine in ten first-time mothers who give birth vaginally experience an injury — one of the clearest examples of how society has normalised female pain. Both investors and researchers shy away from inventions that require them to use the word “vagina” in a business setting, and women are paying the cost of this embarrassment.
Prepared to ride out such squeamishness, however, is the California-based MaternaMedical, which has developed a dilator that pre-stretches the vaginal canal in the first stage of labour. The goal is to reduce pelvic floor injuries during childbirth, as well as prevent pelvic organ prolapse later on in life, often a consequence of a vaginal birth.
The Materna Prep looks like a mini purple flashlight with four arms on its sides. “It’s super boring to watch because it dilates a millimetre at a time,” said Tracy MacNeal, chief executive of MaternaMedical.
Having previously worked in orthopaedics, MacNeal has her own perspective on the innovation and changing attitudes to female health. “It’s interesting, because previously I was never asked, ‘Who are we to interfere with Mother Nature?’ When people get an artificial hip, nobody’s asking that!”
Out of all clinically recognised pregnancies, about 10 per cent end in miscarriage, most commonly in the first trimester. The overall number is estimated to be higher, as most early pregnancies are not reported. “A lot of people think it is a problem that affects very few, when it actually affects many,” said Lina Chan, who co-founded Parla in London in 2018.
Parla has an app that offers evidence-based insights on fertility and it runs six-week courses on pregnancy loss. In a survey it conducted of 600 users, 75 per cent of women said they felt they did not receive appropriate care from their healthcare provider; most, it was found, were just sent home with a pamphlet to read. The start-up was acquired by Holland & Barrett in 2022.
When picturing a person who is having a heart attack, many of us think of someone experiencing pressure on the chest and pain radiating down the left-hand side. But those symptoms are typical for men, not for women.
In the UK, women are twice as likely to die of coronary disease — the main cause of heart attacks — as breast cancer, according to the British Heart Foundation. Yet only one third of participants in clinical trials are female. Consequently we know much less about how to detect heart health issues in women.
“The reason there is a lot of latent bias is because we have insufficient data,” said Alicia Chong Rodriguez, co-founder and chief executive of Bloomer Tech, a start-up based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
As a result, women wait longer to call an ambulance after initial heart attack symptoms and have a 50 per cent higher chance than men of receiving the wrong initial diagnosis.
Bloomer Tech has created an electrocardiogram device that looks like an regular bra, but its band has textile-based sensors that enables women at risk to track their heart health. The start-up aims to close the gender gap in cardiovascular research and enhance the early detection of heart conditions in women. The bra is currently in clinical trials.
Lioness, based in Berkeley, California, has developed a smart vibrator that uses biofeedback technology to visualise female orgasms. The device measures pelvic floor contractions by using force sensors, like those that turn the page of a Kindle or make the door handles of a Tesla electric vehicle pop open. The goal is to provide people with insights into their sexual health and wellbeing.
Lioness has also contributed to scientific research, collecting data from an unprecedented 100,000 orgasm sessions, all of them anonymised. As Anna Lee, the co-founder and chief executive, said: “My mum has a Lioness. I would never want to know her data or when she used it!”
Almost three quarters of the orgasms tracked by the firm fall into a pattern that it calls the “ocean wave” — a rhythmic squeezing and relaxing of the pelvic floor muscles at a balanced level of force and relaxation. It is telling that the “avalanche” pattern, which we tend to see in films, is much less common.
The Lowdown, founded by Alice Pelton in London, is the world’s first comparison and reviews platform for contraceptives. With more than 6,000 reviews, the site aims to help women find the best option for their specific needs.
“I went through a journey like most women do, choosing and swapping and trying to find the right thing for me,” said Pelton. With a background in product management and tech, her solution was to create a platform where people could help each other to find the most suitable contraceptive for their own needs.
People are more likely to post reviews when their experience of a product has been negative, but there are positive reviews on The Lowdown site, too. “The sad reality is that a lot of these products just aren’t great,” said Pelton. “The best thing about our platform is that we are honest about that.”
Breastfeeding is a highly emotive subject. For decades, “breast is best” has been the clarion call from health organisations and campaigners in promoting breastfeeding. But as ever with female bodies, it is time to rethink the mantra. “Fed is best” is a more feminist approach — it acknowledges that not everyone can or wants to breastfeed.
The Dublin-based start-up Coroflo has developed a silicone nipple shield with a patented micro-flow sensor at the base of the nipple that can measure the amount of milk taken in by a baby when they are breastfeeding. The data is shown in real time on an app.
“Anecdotally, doctors believe about 15 to 20 per cent of mothers do have a low-supply issue, and those mothers need formula,” said Rosanne Longmore, the chief executive of Coroflo. For mothers who want to measure how much their baby is drinking, this nipple shield could be the answer.
Following a clinical study, the company plans to launch the “Coro” in the UK early next year. It already has interest from researchers who would use the shield to determine how a mother’s health can influence her breast milk.
These are just a few examples of upcoming tech focused on female bodies — but while femtech innovation can further women’s health, “scam tech” monetises insecurities. For technology to serve our needs, it must be done well. It is time for us to get the innovation we deserve.
Marina Gerner’s The Vagina Business: The Innovative Breakthroughs that Could Change Everything in Women’s Health, is published this month by Icon Books (£25)